whats the best way to chop a 53 ford? im thinking of chopping it 3 inches. is there any good detailed books? i have a pretty good idea how to do it but some things arent so clear. if you could help, please pm me.
There is an all metal 54 sedan in all different rod/custom mags this past year, packard lites I think...dynamite car tho. Socal car I think...Chop is right on. See if you can dig up some pics on the net. Would be a good reference, very photographed.
Sorry- I dont click every link I see.....you can if you want .IF you do post the pic -I might be able to help him out......
Tex Smith's "How to Chop Tops" book has a very detailed chop of a 52-54 Ford two door sedan in it. I chopped my '53 when I was 15 using the book as a guide and it turned out nice. Once the roof surgery is done, consider using an oval rear window from a different car, like a 49-51 Ford. The curved glass in the '53 is nearly impossible to cut. I sank mine into the back of the car but it leaks so I'm going to replace it with a 50 rear window. I wish I would have done that the first time around.
i have that book and when i had a 53 and was going to chop it. i didnt like the way it looked in the book. but i cant explaing exactly why i dont know but maybe the stock chrome around the bottom of windows made it look too square.
Here's the guy's car pic and a quickie photoshop of an approx. 3" chop, straight vertical like the car from the Tex Smith book.
with all the crap going on and out in the internet these days -- thats not a bad idea-- but to each their own. keith
looking forward to seeing more on this topic as im more then intrested in it. one thing that always made me wonder is why the roof line is so similar to a 49-51 yet the 52-4 chops always look square and dong flow right. i think the answer is found in the fact that most 49-51s get the rear glass laid down and the 2-4 keep it nearly stock verticly and just sink it in. what i dont understand is why people dont just lay the backglass on a 2-4 down and sink the front of the backwindow--the corners if you will, in further then the rest of it. then youll have a nice flowing roof line like all the nice showboxes you see choped and not some straight vertail looking mess.
I plan to use the backlite out of a 49 Ford or a 49 Plymouth on mine when it comes time, for the exact reason explained above. If you look at the rear of the non-shoebox Ford in relation to a true-shoebox Ford, you will see how similar the lines are with the exception that the 52-54's have a flatter section on the rear but the rear crown to the sides look the same. Just imagine that the wrap around part is filled with metal and not glass. The biggest gotcha on why I think the shoeboxes have easier lines to flow than the later years are because of the A pillar. It is already laid back a little as opposed to the mostly upright A pillars of the 52-54. The 52-54 is a round box if that makes any sense. Kind of like having the edges rounded off but still retaining the profile of a brick. Good luck, mine is going under the knife later this summer.
Photoshop was cool Squawblo- but I think that he can achieve a better profile and flow if he chops it 3" and maybe 4 at the rear and uses the stock glass again. That could be done by rocking it UP & forwards and REMOVING about 3"-4" of roof above it....of course he will then have to add to the tulip panel,between the deck and rear glass....this would also effectively narrow up the rear pillar area to a slimmer version also adding to the look.....not to mention the use of stock glass and trims. 'Course Im retarded so I guess I wasted my time mentioning the idea....
Here´s mine ´54 fourdr. It´s been chopped 3" front and 5" back. The rearglass is sanked to the trunk.
Here is 54 I found on the hamb and the bare metal one you speak of is was supposedly build by my equipment leasing guy. I have 2 of a quicky chop we did. 4" in the front and 2" out of the back window. Rodger
I think the most commom thing done wrong on these year Fords is to leave the rear glass at its tsock angle. I have done a few of these and have usually leaned a 49 glass and opening in them at a steeper angle -which works fairly well...I do not have any pics of that. I do however have a pic here of a similar shaped rear glass on a 53 Buick-chopped 3" and as I described above removing some metal above rear window and rocked it [THE stock uncut glass]forwrds and UP into the roof skin. then I rebuilt the panel below glass maintaining a flow or like angles from the roof/glass/ and the rear panel into the trunk lid.....it is a must that the angles do not conflict or vary much =-or you will end up ruining the profile of the top........ It is easier if you slope the top an inch or so more lower at rear too.
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